Huang He himself didn't know how the plot would develop in the future, but he wasn't in the mood to care about it for now, because Mr. Huang was currently on a plane to the United States.
That's right, our Mr. Huang's annual trip to the United States had begun again.
It was quite strange, Mr. Huang basically went to the United States once every year, and this time was no exception. In fact, Huang's plan did not include coming to the United States so early. It was all because Little Swift's urgent phone call had forced Mr. Huang to go to the United States ahead of schedule.
The reason was simple: the Western Mustang Fund was experiencing losses.
This was something that greatly surprised Mr. Huang. According to Huang's original plan, Western Mustang should not have incurred losses. This was because the second phase of Western Mustang's funding was entirely invested in oil futures at this time.
Anyone who knew the historical trend knew that starting from 2003, oil futures had been continuously rising, reaching a peak price of $130 per barrel. Currently, the price was only $30 per barrel.
Huang He recalled that throughout 2004, the highest oil price would rise to $45 per barrel, while the cost price of the Western Mustang Investment Fund was $29 per barrel. Therefore, upon settlement, at least a 50% return could be obtained.
Although this return was far from the increase in the first phase of the Western Mustang Investment Fund, it was definitely a very impressive achievement compared to most investment funds.
It wasn't that Mr. Huang didn't want to make a profit in 2004, but he wasn't a finance professional and didn't have an intimate knowledge of the world's financial history, especially the US stock market. He genuinely couldn't remember which stock would skyrocket this year.
Moreover, with the current scale of the Western Mustang Investment Fund, venturing into any single stock would immediately affect that stock's price, leading to vastly different results from historical performance, thus making historical predictions inaccurate.
Only in the vast market of oil futures could $20 billion be invested without causing too much of a ripple, allowing the fund to capitalize on historical trends and stabilize its income.
But now, this fund had actually lost money.
Even a month ago, the price of oil futures was $36 per barrel, but by yesterday, the price had plummeted to $28 per barrel, which was even lower than the price at which Western Mustang had purchased it, instantly causing Western Mustang to lose billions of dollars.
This made Little Swift panic, and he immediately contacted Huang He, requesting Mr. Huang's technical guidance.
But Mr. Huang himself was also baffled. Although occasional fluctuations in the oil futures market were normal, a direct drop of $8 per barrel, a decline of over 20%, was truly terrifying and highly abnormal. He couldn't recall any 20% drop in oil prices in 2004!
Oh, right, China's oil prices are not linked to international oil prices, so the decline isn't reflected...
More importantly, there was no identifiable reason for the sharp drop in oil prices in the market.
Normally, a sharp drop in oil prices would have a reason, such as countries announcing the release of oil reserves to bring a large amount of stored oil into the market.
Or perhaps organizations like OPEC would announce an increase in oil production, boosting market supply.
Or there might be transportation issues, such as port blockages, damaged oil pipelines, or overturned cruise ships causing blocked shipping lanes. These could all be reasons for oil price plunges and surges.
But the problem was that none of these reasons were heard in the market at all. The oil prices had suddenly collapsed, leaving many in the market utterly perplexed.
It was precisely because of this that Little Swift panicked.
If he knew the reason for the oil price plunge, it would be fine. But the problem was that he didn't know, and the unknown was always the most terrifying. Thus, Little Swift became somewhat agitated and sought help from Mr. Huang.
Mr. Huang thought that he did have some other matters to attend to in the United States, and since Blizzard had also called, Mr. Huang decided to travel to the United States ahead of schedule and deal with the numerous accumulated issues there.
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"Oh, George, you know, our financial god is in a bit of trouble!"
"Yes, I heard that more than a dozen people are currently blocking his home, demanding an explanation to investors. But this financial god no longer lives at home!" Hearing the conversation on the radio, Huang He looked at Little Swift, who was somewhat flustered beside him, and then smiled, "What, has the situation reached this point?"
"It's actually alright!" Little Swift said somewhat awkwardly. "Most investors still trust me. It's just that a portion of them have taken some drastic actions, but I have managed to avoid them in time."
"That's a bit excessive. We operate a fund, and funds have both gains and losses. We've only lost less than three percent so far, and they're already raising a ruckus and blocking your doorstep. Isn't that a bit abnormal!" Huang He said with great suspicion.
"As far as I know, with this plunge in oil prices, at least a dozen oil funds have incurred losses. We're actually doing quite well, having only lost three percent. Some funds have lost over ten percent, even twenty percent. Why haven't we heard about investors surrounding them, but we're the ones being surrounded first?" Huang He asked curiously.
"This might be mainly because I was too prominent before, and many people had excessively high expectations of me. Now that there's a downturn, they've become excessively fearful, and their reactions are naturally a bit exaggerated," Little Swift explained, but he omitted one point: the people blocking him were mainly his fellow Black people.
This was also a matter of karma, a predetermined outcome.
The reason Little Swift's first phase fund was able to attract billions of dollars in a short period, which was not in line with the speed of a newly established fund, let alone the fact that the fund's controller was a completely young newcomer.
It was precisely because of Little Swift's Black identity that many Black people had a surge of goodwill towards him, choosing to invest all their limited funds in Little Swift's fund, and also earning him the title of "Black Financial God."
But what made him rise also made him fall.
Little Swift's fund became the fund with the most Black investors in the entire United States. And Black people, in general, don't have much money. Now that the little bit of savings they had managed to accumulate was all invested in Little Swift's fund.
Now that this fund had incurred losses, and the base of Black investors was large, and their tempers were a bit fiery, it was natural that more than a dozen rather agitated Black individuals directly blocked Little Swift's doorstep.
If Little Swift's fund purchasers were all white, then perhaps there wouldn't be so many troubles.
However, these were things Little Swift found difficult to say, as saying them would be an embarrassment to Black people, an embarrassment to his own race. Huang He actually understood this, but since Little Swift didn't mention it, he didn't need to point it out, as he wasn't the one being besieged anyway.
"I heard you're being ridiculed quite a lot now, right?" Huang He asked with a grin.
"Yes! I'm no longer the financial god. They call me the Lucky Kid!" Little Swift rolled his eyes.
Lucky Kid, as the name suggested, was someone who relied purely on luck.
With the sharp drop in international oil prices and the losses of the Western Mustang Fund, those white people who had been suppressed by Little Swift's performance instantly began to cheer. Various opinions appeared online.
The general sentiment was that Little Swift's first phase fund's profits were entirely earned by luck, but luck was only temporary. Now that Little Swift had lost his luck, he would begin to experience continuous misfortune, and his true colors would be revealed.
This was why everyone referred to him as the Lucky Kid, this new nickname. However, Little Swift didn't seem to care about it at all; in fact, he seemed somewhat happy.
Because he knew that he himself was not the one responsible for the entire operation, so whether it was "Financial God" or "Lucky Kid," these were actually titles bestowed upon Mr. Huang, and they had nothing to do with him. Thinking of this, Little Swift couldn't help but glance at Huang He.
"This kid!" Huang He snorted. He certainly understood Little Swift's meaning, but this was indeed a form of mockery directed at him, so he needed to quickly figure out the reason.
Thus, Huang He asked, "Have you figured out the reason for the oil price plunge yet?"
"No..." Little Swift shook his head. "I've investigated to the best of my ability these past couple of days, mobilizing all my possible contacts. A large portion of people simply don't know what's happening. However, one or two individuals seem to know something but are hesitant to speak, refusing to tell me anything!"
"Additionally, I've discovered that some funds began aggressively selling their oil futures before the oil price plunge. Therefore, they not only didn't lose money but actually made quite a bit. I suspect these funds might have received some prior information, which led them to start selling in advance."
"Moreover, these funds are all very well-connected with the US government, or they are simply funds under large conglomerates. Therefore, they must have access to information that we are unaware of. But what this information is, I have no idea."
"What major event happened in 2004 that would cause oil prices to plunge!" Huang He scratched his head, utterly perplexed.
He really wanted to say that perhaps this was a natural market plunge, like a sudden financial crisis.
But this made no sense at all. There was no basis for oil prices to fall, as oil prices would continue to soar for the next four years, and there was no issue of a bubble.
So, the problem could only lie with the US government. But had they discovered or leaked some important news that caused some associated institutions to flee directly, thus overturning the entire oil price?
"Uh!" Huang He suddenly thought of something and asked Little Swift, "Has Assam been caught yet?"